Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Steampunk is better when it's not made by steampunk fans.

I saw these earlier and I've been thinking about them all morning. My final thought is:

"Steampunk is better when it's not made by steampunk fans."

These designs are beautiful, dramatic and full of narrative. They practically write the script themselves. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll ever have this beautiful steampunk movie. To create designs of this quality requires too much research and effort, two scary words that most artists run to steampunk to avoid.

I like steampunk. I like the idea of it. I like that it's a mini-genre that is a product of (but has enough distance from) it's massive parents, Fantasy and Science Fiction. Unfortunately, most artists who dabble in it do so in part because it is easy. Do a quick search for steampunk and you'll find piles and piles of the same re-chewed aesthetics. The same costumes, the same airships, the same bullshit mechanical fluff and decoration hot-glued onto every surface.

The Prada Menswear Fall 2012 line was not created out of laziness, but passion tempered with good research. The result is elegant, striking and packed to the brim with emotion and mystery. These are the things the steampunk aesthetic is going need if it's going to learn how to walk instead of crawl.

That's insane how true it is. Seeing the steampunk craze REALLY kick off at Gencon a few years back really almost made me hate the genre, but seeing this sort of thing reminds me that there is still a level of quality that can retain dignity. Good catch.